


If You Wish Upon a Star...?

by Samnyeong



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, OT13 - Freeform, University AU, dorks everywhere, idek their ship names man, jeonghoon, kind of sadistic junhui, roommates!gyuhaoseok, roommates!jeongcheolsoo, roommates!soonhoon, roommates!verkwanchan, roommates!wonhui, soonhui, starts off as an unhealthy relationship do not follow their bad example kids, sub-ish soonyoung, wonchan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-11 05:08:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7877707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samnyeong/pseuds/Samnyeong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Junhui and Soonyoung used to be locker mates in middle school, nothing more. Heck, they didn't even have any classes together, but that doesn't stop Soonyoung from secretly admiring the pretty boy from afar (technically just creepily peeking over the top of his locker door).</p><p>Time passed, they moved onto different high schools, but as fate would have it, they met again during their third year in university as floor mates, and were thankfully put into the same group for orientation (along with eleven other boys).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Star Light Star Bright

**Author's Note:**

> I am very, very new to WonChan and JeongHoon, so bear with me. I wanted to pair Wonwoo and Jihoon up, but like, nah, that's too cliche, and it's no fun with just the '96 liners dating the '96 liners lol.  
> (okay to be honest I just wanted to squeeze Chan in somehow he's precious there needs to be more fics of him seriously)
> 
> I've noticed it's become a pattern for me to brozone the more popular ships haha... ha... sorry about that, it really isn't intentional.
> 
> Notes on dorms:  
> North Wing - Hansol, Seungkwan, Chan  
> South Wing - Minghao, Mingyu, Seokmin  
> West Wing - Wonwoo, Junhui, Soonyoung, Jihoon  
> East Wing - Seungcheol, Jeonghan, Joshua
> 
> Majors + Group role:  
> Seungcheol - Pharmacy [Supervisor]  
> Jeonghan - Nursing [Team Leader]  
> Jisoo - Psychology [Team Leader]  
> Junhui - Linguistics [Jeonghan's trainee]  
> Soonyoung - Performing Arts [Jisoo's trainee]  
> Wonwoo - English Literature [Jeonghan's trainee]  
> Jihoon - Audio Engineering [Jisoo's trainee]  
> Minghao - Dance [2nd-year transfer student/Jeonghan's team]  
> Seokmin - Education [2nd-year transfer student/Jisoo's team]  
> Mingyu - Culinary Science [2nd-year transfer student/Jeonghan's team]  
> Seungkwan - Opera [1st-year/Jeonghan's team]  
> Hansol - Law [1st-year/Jisoo's team]  
> Chan - Exploratory [1st-year (skipped one year)/Jisoo's team]

Soonyoung remembered spending days, his entire middle school years, just pining after that one boy. All he really knew about him was his name, and of course, his locker number, but never had the guts to actually walk up and talk to him. No, talking to him was a crime. It was an unspoken contract among his numerous admirers, no one was allowed to come in contact with him, and Soonyoung was a loyal follower of this contract. Well, except for that one time.

_"Oh, sorry." Junhui smiled apologetically as he bumped into Soonyoung lightly on the way to his locker._

_The poor boy couldn't respond and just stood there with his mouth open as the godly figure moved out of his sight._

Soonyoung sighed heavily, bringing down his tray a little harshly on the table, earning a disgruntled grunt from his best friend since high school (and current roommate), "You're thinking about that crush of yours again? Please, it was way back in middle school. Who even remembers their crushes from back then?" Jihoon grumbled icily, sipping his newly bought iced coffee.

"You have a boyfriend, Jihoonie, you wouldn't possibly understand what us innocent single folk think." Soonyoung sighed again wistfully, gobbling up his food in a matter of seconds whilst staring out the window dramatically.

"Yeah, you're right."

"Well, you didn't have to agree that easily."

Jihoon ignored Soonyoung's whining, his eyes lightening up slightly as an older student made his way towards them with a couple of others following behind him, "Jeonghan."

"Hey, how's it going?" Jeonghan smiled warmly, giving a warm greeting to Soonyoung as well before going over to place a hand on Jihoon's shoulder affectionately, "Glad to see people moving in already."

"Well, orientation week is beginning in two days, so we kind of had to." Soonyoung explained, looking up at the line of people standing behind Jeonghan, recognizing two people out of the three, "Seungcheol-hyung, Jisoo-hyung."

Seungcheol nodded towards him in greeting while Jisoo just smiled. "Seungcheol will be acting as a supervisor for Jisoo and I, Wonwoo over here signed up to be a trainee under me so he will be working with our buddy team as well."

The stranger with dark eyes and hair (well, dark features in general aside from his extremely pale skin) nodded politely at Soonyoung and Jihoon, a small trace of a smile on his face, "I look forward to it. Jeonghan-hyung tells me that you two are trainees under Jisoo-hyung."

"Yeah, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other this week." Soonyoung laughed, giving a friendly handshake to his fellow trainee.

Right, this was how things worked for their university's orientation. The new students (transfer students included) will be put into groups which will proceed to take them out on activities for a week. All activities are optional, so members don't have to show up if they don't want to, but are encouraged to if they want to get a head start on knowing where their classes are, how certain things work, or just socializing in general.

There are multiple supervisors, each looking over multiple groups, and each group consists of two team leaders, each having up to two trainees, plus six members in total within the group. Team leaders can split the group up into threes during certain activities, like dining, etc.

Jeonghan scowled lightly as he scanned over the crowd, "There was supposed to be one more of my trainees, but, uh... he's running a little late. What did you say he was doing?" The older looked towards Wonwoo.

"Escaping from rabid fans."

"Oh, right. We ran into a little trouble earlier. I suppose there are a few of us that are quite well known on campus, the moment we stepped out, a group of girls just came running." Jeonghan chuckled, brushing his hair to the side, "He kind of volunteered as bait, it seems he's quite used to this."

Soonyoung only looked at the group of four in front of him uneasily. With a group made up with these guys? That sort of reaction from the girls was a hundred percent guaranteed. Normally they would leave Jeonghan alone because of Jihoon's hissing, but guess they couldn't resist the others' charms.

The sound of a phone notification rang out, and Wonwoo glanced at his phone screen briefly before tucking the device back into his pockets. "It seems he won't be joining us at this time. He managed to escape back to our dorm, but the, um, 'fans' were persistent, and now he's stuck in there."

"Oh, that's too bad... I guess introductions can wait until lunch then. You two enjoy your breakfast, okay?"

"You're not joining us?" Jihoon asked, disappointment clearly shown in his eyes even though his expression remained calm.

"Sorry, we have a TL meeting with the supervisors." Jeonghan rubbed Jihoon's shoulder warmly, "I promise to join you guys for lunch though. You trainees will have to meet at some point before the orientation."

"All right..."

"Wonwoo, why don't you join us?" Soonyoung asked, might as well start befriending him unless they wanted the program to have awkward tension the entire time.

"I've already eaten, thanks. My roommate, the guy we were talking about earlier, makes a point of stuffing me in the morning. He said he learns new recipes from this online penpal of his." Wonwoo explained, "But I wouldn't mind sitting down."

"Go ahead, go ahead!" Soonyoung quickly pulled up a chair next to himself, watching as Wonwoo gratefully sat down, "But wow, your roommate sounds..."

"Like a piece of work?"

"Well, yeah, but at least he takes care of you." Soonyoung laughed, "You guys must be close!"

"We've known each other since high school, so... I'm kind of stuck with him." Wonwoo shrugged.

"What a coincidence, that's the same as Jihoon and me!"

"Jihoon and _I_." Jihoon corrected, "That's why you're not an English major."

"You're not one either."

"That's funny, because I am." Wonwoo let out another slit of a smile, tilting his head slightly, "I'm curious though, what are your majors?"

"Jihoonie majors in Audio Engineering, I major in Performing Arts." Soonyoung replied enthusiastically. Good, it seemed they were moving along smoothly, who ever said that it was hard to make friends with people you've just met?

"Interesting..." Wonwoo nodded thoughtfully, "No wonder I've never seen you guys around until now."

The conversation continued to flow as they talked and compared their high school lives, along with what they've been working on for the past three years, etc, until both Soonyoung and Jihoon were done eating.

"I guess we should head back. I want to finish unpacking some stuff." Jihoon said, already standing up.

"Oh, sure." Soonyoung followed, looking over at Wonwoo, "It was really nice meeting you."

"Same here." Wonwoo nodded, getting up at a slower speed, "What dorm are you guys in?"

"We live in the West Wing."

"Huh... that's funny, so do we." Wonwoo raised an eyebrow.

"Wow, that's amazing! Wouldn't it be funny if we were on the same floor?" Soonyoung joked as the three made their way back to their dorm building. However, Soonyoung's smile was quickly wiped off when they arrived at their floor, Wonwoo still with them, and a stranger standing in front of his room.

No, instead of a stranger, it was someone extremely familiar to him.

No, no, it can't be.

But it was.

The stranger turned around at the sound of people approaching, his beautifully shaped eyes (with double eyelids so prominent they seemed as though they've been sculpted by an angel's hand) grew slightly wider at the sight of the three, "Wonwoo! Thank goodness you're back, I can't open the door!"

"That's because that's not our room." Wonwoo replied with an almost dead tone as he made his way to the panicking male, taking the key from his hand and sticking it into the door next to the one he was trying to force open.

"Oh, haha, I guess I just wasted a hell lot of time." Junhui looked over Wonwoo's shoulder, "Did you finally make friends? I'm so happy for you, Wonwoo!"

"They're our neighbors, it seems. Kwon Soonyoung and Lee Jihoon." Wonwoo replied, ignoring Junhui's condescending comment.

"Oh, really? It's nice to meet you guys! I'm Wen Junhui. Sorry about almost breaking into your room." Junhui laughed lightheartedly, coming over to give a handshake to Jihoon, but when he got to Soonyoung, the latter snatched his hand away by instinct. An awkward silence thus broke out as Jihoon arched an eyebrow at Soonyoung.

"...Huh? Oh, oh! Sorry, I was spacing out." Soonyoung quickly grabbed Junhui's hand, trying not to shake too much as he put on an extremely forced awkward smile, "I-I'm Soonyoung. I hope we'll be seeing a lot of each other- I mean, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other, but I mean, we don't have to, like-"

"Don't worry, he drank too much coffee earlier." Jihoon cut in, pulling Soonyoung and Junhui apart before his roommate could damage his reputation any further, "He's normally not like this."

"I see..." Junhui chuckled, tilting his head to the side, "Well, it was nice to meet you guys. I guess we'll be seeing you around."

"They're Jisoo-hyung's trainees." Wonwoo explained from the side.

"Oh! Then I guess we really will be seeing a lot of each other, this will be fun!" Junhui clapped his hands together, "You know what? We should go grab some lunch together some time."

"Jeonghan-hyung said today."

"Perfect then! Wow, this is all working out really well, it's almost like somebody wanted this to happen..." The end of Junhui's sentence trailed off curiously as he glanced at the ceiling thoughtfully, "Jisoo-hyung was right, praying does work."

"What?"

"I have to go sign up for his church group now."

"Jun, don't do anything crazy-" Wonwoo warned as the two disappeared abruptly into their room, leaving Soonyoung and Jihoon out in the hallway, trying to process what just happened.

"Well, you're in luck, you won't be the only nut job around here." Jihoon shrugged, making his way to their own room.

"...That was him."

"What?"

"I said, that was him, Jihoon! My middle school crush!" Soonyoung half-yelled and half-whispered, knowing that the soundproof system wasn't all that great in the dorms.

Jihoon looked at him blankly, then slowly leaned against the door with his forehead, "...I need coffee."

"You already had a ton during breakfast."

"Well, I can't have alcohol in here."

* * *

After giving short introductions between the four, Jeonghan and Jisoo were quickly shooed away by Seungcheol once more, much to Jihoon's disappointment.

"So, Jun, what are you majoring in?" Jihoon asked, but Junhui's response was interrupted by a choking Soonyoung.

"Since when were you guys on nickname terms?!"

"Oh, before we headed out here, I bumped into him in the bathroom. In short, the staff members really need to replace tissue rolls in there." Jihoon shrugged, "And we surprisingly had a lot to talk about, we have the same taste in music, and-"

"Just, just stop talking." Soonyoung clutched his heart dramatically, "I can't believe you would betray me like this."

"What?" Junhui looked at Jihoon in confusion, "What betrayal is he talking about?"

"You two went to the same middle school-" Jihoon's mouth was quickly covered by Soonyoung's hand before he could continue and reveal Soonyoung's "dark feelings".

"Oh, we did?" Junhui's eyes lit up brightly, making Soonyoung's heart melt faster than an ice cream cone on a hot summer day, "This is amazing! Seriously, what are the odds?" Junhui rambled on as Soonyoung simply nodded dumbly, entranced by Junhui's voice and the movement of his lips, and the way his head bobbed up and down when he gets excited...

"Hoshi, right?"

"What?"

"Your nickname back in middle school." Junhui explained, "I've heard your friends call you that before."

"Y-you know my nickname...?" Soonyoung tried extremely hard not to swoon.

"I thought you seemed familiar! Now it all makes sense!"

 Soonyoung thought he was really going to go blind from the smile Junhui flashed him, "I, uh, I can't believe you know that, I mean, we never talked..."

"Of course I know! You were my locker neighbor, right?"

It took every ounce of Soonyoung's strength to stop himself from fainting right then and there.

* * *

"He remembers me... He remembers me... He fucking remembers me, Jihoon... What does this mean?" Soonyoung mumbled, his eyes blank, his expression in a trance as he laid his cheek flat against his desk, staring at the back of his roommate's head.

"It means you were such a nut in middle school that he couldn't forget you no matter how hard he tried." Jihoon responded coldly, gathering his pre-arrival assignments into a pile on his desk.

"Wow... That sounds pretty good, actually."

"You should really go see a doctor." Jihoon scoffed, turning around in his chair to look at his best friend skeptically.

"But my god, Jihoon, we're going to be seeing each other for an entire week! I mean, we're even floor mates! This must be fate. No, I don't care what you think, this is fate." Soonyoung insisted as Jihoon rolled his eyes.

"All right, I admit that things have been working out in your favor, but saying that it's fate is a stretch."

"Saying that it's _not_ fate is a stretch." Soonyong persisted as Jihoon threw his hands up in defeat.

Meanwhile, just one room over from them, Wonwoo and Junhui had managed to get their things sorted out with everything unpacked and in their rightful places. "So, we have exactly one more day to ourselves until orientation week officially starts, what do you want to do?" Junhui asked, flopping down on the bed.

Before Wonwoo could reply, they heard knocking on the door. The younger of the two answered as he was standing closer, revealing a pretty small built boy, looking horribly lost with a cap pulled over his face, "I'm sorry, I got the wrong room again, huh...?"

"Are you a freshman?" Junhui asked, coming over to look over Wonwoo's shoulder, "But wow, even for a freshman, you're pretty small..."

The unexpected guest coughed at this, slightly uncomfortable, "I'm sorry, I'll get out of your way now..."

"Hold on, where are you trying to go?" Wonwoo asked with a gentle tone, glancing at the paper the freshman was clutching in his hands.

"Um... North Wing..." The boy read, scowling slightly at the handwriting.

Wonwoo nodded, mapping out the route in his mind, "Hold on, I'll draw you a map. It's pretty simple though, don't worry." With that, he ducked inside, sketching up a quick drawing for the new student and passing it over, "Here you go. I also included my number, so don't hesitate to call me if you get lost again."

"O-oh, thanks..." The boy was visibly shocked by the sudden gesture, but seemed relieved at the same time.

"My name's Jeon Wonwoo, by the way, I'm a trainee for the upcoming orientation."

"Oh! I see!" Even though he wore his cap very low, Wonwoo could still catch a slight blush crawling up the younger student's cheeks, "I-I guess I'll see you then... Again, I'm so sorry about this!" With that, the boy scurried off, staggering a little in a clumsy manner.

"Well, he was cute." Junhui commented after the new student was well out of sight, watching as Wonwoo closed the door only after he was sure the boy had gone in the correct direction.

Wonwoo rolled his eyes, "Easy there, Romeo, he's a freshman."

"I know, I know, don't worry." Junhui held up his hands defensively, "I was just making an observation."

"Speaking of observation, you and that Soonyoung guy, there seems to be some tension going on." Wonwoo noted, sitting down next to Junhui on the edge of his bed.

"Oh, Hoshi? Isn't he the cutest?" A huge grin spread across Junhui's face, "His reactions are so obvious, it's interesting."

"Interesting... Jun, I know you're not really the playboy you pretend you are, but sometimes you can say very misleading and potentially dangerous things." Wonwoo stated sternly, looking at his roommate and best friend seriously, "Now then, if you're just planning on playing with this poor boy, I suggest that you just drop the idea and never go near him again."

"Whoa, whoa, who said anything about playing?" Junhui returned Wonwoo's stern look with innocent puppy eyes, "I'm just saying... he's extremely cute. Once I saw him cry in middle school, it was the most adorable thing-"

"Stop it, just stop it."

"But at the same time, I felt kind of mad." Junhui tilted his head to the side slightly, "I can't believe someone would dare make something so precious cry."

"You would."

"I guess it depends on the situation. Like, maybe he cries from joy? That would be nice." Junhui continued to ramble to himself as Wonwoo sighed, "I mean, did you see how happy he was when I told him I recognized him?"

"Yeah, I feel bad for the kid for having an obvious crush on you."

Junhui smiled at Wonwoo, tilting his head to the other side this time, "But you know, a crush is just a crush after all. I'm sure he'll realize that I'm not the same as his fantasized version of me and give up soon. It's a shame, but I guess that's expected."

Wonwoo remained silent, but put an arm around Junhui's shoulder affectionately, "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Thanks." Junhui glanced up at the calendar once more, "Now, what are we going to do for tomorrow?"

* * *

 "Oh, hey! You finally made it!" Seungkwan gasped in relief, running over to the doorway towards Chan.

"That asshole over there drew the map completely wrong." Chan pointed an accusing finger at Hansol the moment he entered the room.

The law major merely smiled lopsidedly, "I warned you I wasn't good at art."

Chan huffed, but simply stomped over to an empty bed and collapsed face-first into the sheets, too tired to give Hansol a complete piece of his mind. He took a mental note to do it tomorrow.

"But you managed to get here anyway, so it all worked out, right?" Seungkwan tried defending his friend, sitting down on the edge of his own bed, facing Chan's.

"That's because an upperclassman helped me out. After I kind of barged into his room."

Hansol laughed out loud, earning a glare from Chan.

"Well, that was nice of him." Seungkwan looked as though he was pondering over something very seriously, then slammed a fist into his palm after reaching some sort of enlightenment, "We should bake a cake for him."

"What? Why? How the hell did you get there?" Chan blinked, raising his head from the sheets slightly, trying to figure out which one of his roommates was more insane.

"As a thank you, duh."

"A cake? Really?"

"He's a college student, every college student appreciates free food."

Chan rolled his eyes, "Can't I just treat him to something? None of us knows how to bake, Seungkwan."

"Fine, do what you want." Seungkwan shrugged his shoulders dramatically.

"Well, I said that, but I don't know if I'll get a chance to. He said he's one of the trainees for the orientation thing, but you know, that's still a pretty low chance of meeting again." Chan sighed, flopping back down into the sheets, "It's a shame, too... He was pretty cool..."

"And nice." Seungkwan added.

"And cool." Hansol added in an obviously less helpful manner.

Chan simply responded with a groan. It was way too late in the evening for this.

* * *

"Excited to meet your team?" Junhui asked during dinner the next day, looking over at Soonyoung from his already empty plate.

"Of course!" Soonyoung chirped excitedly, being extra cautious not to speak with his mouthful, wouldn't want to gross Junhui away, especially since they've just reunited.

The corners of Junhui's lips tugged into a smile as he reached a hand over to lightly brush away leftover crumbs on Soonyoung's cheek, causing the latter to blush and sweat profusely, eyes beginning to lose focus. Of course, none of this escaped Junhui's keen observation. "You're so cute."

"I'm, uh, what?" Soonyoung could almost hear heavenly bells ringing in his ears.

"Cute." Junhui repeatedly calmly, leaning his chin against his palm lazily, "So cute."

Soonyoung wished he could die right then and there, he couldn't get any happier than this.

"I have a question." Jihoon coughed, interrupting their "moment", if it even was one, "Why was Soonyoung called Hoshi in middle school?"

"Don't-"

"He used to have a dance crew, that was his stage name." Junhui explained, much to Soonyoung's surprise. He wasn't expecting Junhui to know or remember that much about him.

Jihoon looked at Soonyoung with his classical judging face, "...A dance crew?"

"Hey, we all have a dark past one way or another." Soonyoung said defensively.

"Speaking of which, there is actually a transfer student who's majoring in dance from our team." Wonwoo said, shuffling through the profile packet he received from Jeonghan a couple of days prior to their acceptance as trainees.

"Interesting... anyone majoring in astrology or astronomy?" Junhui asked, leaning over to look at the contents.

"Why?"

"Just wanted to know if there was anything... scientific, at all, regarding 'wishes upon stars'." Junhui replied, flashing Soonyoung a mysterious smile.

Jihoon shifted uncomfortably in his seat before finally getting up, "I think I'm going to turn in early. Big day tomorrow."

"Same." Wonwoo said, almost immediately standing up right after Jihoon, "You guys take your time though."

"We will, we will." Junhui waved his friend away and watched as the two pretty much ran towards the door to escape the awkwardness.

Soonyoung was suddenly very much aware that he was alone with Junhui. The Wen Junhui. His crush for almost nine years. This was all moving too fast, and he wasn't prepared-

"Did you know that Hoshi means 'star' in Japanese?" Junhui smiled, looking outside at the now dark sky. It wasn't exactly a starry night, but there were noticeable twinkles.

"Ah, yes... someone told me that once. It was actually why I chose it in the first place." Soonyoung replied, trying hard not to gape at how, well, perfect, Junhui's side profile was. Hell, the angle of his nose, that jawline, the proportions of his facial features... everything was just, flawless.

"I see." Junhui hummed, his fingers lightly drumming against the table's surface.

"...You know, I'm still kind of surprised that you remember me, I mean... we've never actually talked..."

"Would you believe me if I said I wished for this to happen?" Junhui interrupted, still staring at the sky outside the dining court's window.

"...You mean like... wished upon a star?" Soonyoung asked doubtfully, remembering Junhui's previous inquiry.

"No," Junhui chuckled, turning slightly to face Soonyoung once more, his eyes sparkling with amusement, "I wished upon you."

* * *

"What does it mean?!!!" Soonyoung whined into his pillow, ignoring Jihoon, who was reaching for his earplugs, "He's so hard to read!"

"I'm telling you, he's just playing with you." Jihoon grumbled. Having ran out of assignments to distract himself with, he's been forced to listen to Soonyoung's whining since his roommate came back from dinner.

"Even so... I guess I'd be fine with that..." Soonyoung mumbled, imagining Junhui's teasing smirk, playing the sound of his chuckle in his mind again and again and again...

"Hey."

"What?"

Jihoon sighed, putting away his earplugs and climbing into his own bed with some effort, "I feel like it's my duty as your friend to tell you this, but don't you think you're just blindly worshiping him? To put it bluntly, do you actually see yourself in a relationship with him?" He paused a bit as Soonyoung continued to stare quizzically at him.

"All I'm saying is... _be careful of what you wish for_."

 

 


	2. Moon and Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they continue to spend time together, Junhui feels a growing urge to monopolize Soonyoung.  
> In short, Junhui is very possessive, and Soonyoung is probably going to be in deep shit.  
> Also, Wonwoo's best bro, someone give him a medal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Very dark themes will appear from this chapter onwards, proceed with caution.

"I see we meet again."

 Chan jumped at the smooth low voice, glancing up from underneath his cap, recognizing the extremely helpful upperclassman from yesterday along with a taller male whom Chan figured was probably his roommate. "Oh!" He quickly stood up, bowing politely, "Thank you so much for yesterday!"

"No problem." Wonwoo smiled gently, "Did you get there safely?"

"Y-yes, thanks to your map."

Junhui peered over from the side, "Are you lost again? What are you doing here alone?"

Chan played with the tip of his cap uneasily, "The schedule says I'm supposed to be meeting my team, but... my roommate probably directed me to the wrong place again." He should really stop asking Hansol for directions.

"Hm... who's your team leader?" Wonwoo asked, ignoring Junhui's teasing nudge in his shoulder.

"Um... Hong Jisoo..." Chan replied, looking at the information letter sent to him via text.

"Oh, don't worry then. Our team is meeting up here, and we'll be meeting up with Jisoo-hyung's team later, so you can tag along." Junhui explained, sitting down next to Chan while Wonwoo took a seat on the other side of the new student.

"Oh, thank you..." Chan looked at Junhui, blinking slightly, unsure of how to address the upperclassman.

"I'm Wen Junhui, just call me Jun." Junhui smiled, offering a hand for Chan to shake.

With that, the three sat there, waiting as the rest of their team assembled, with Jeonghan giving an overview of the week, basic rules, etc. Awkward self-introductions were done around the circle, aside from one interesting moment where Junhui and Mingyu recognize each other as online penpals, then immediately started going into banter mode while the others watched on in amazement.

"Wow, first it was Soonyoung, now even this online penpal of yours..." Wonwoo scowled lightly as they made their way up a small hill where Jisoo's team was waiting, the team leader claimed that he felt closer to his lord there, so Jeonghan had to comply, "What next? A long lost cousin?"

Junhui laughed, patting Wonwoo on the back, "Don't be jealous of my relationships."

Once the two groups merged, introductions were made again, and Jeonghan announced that they would be meeting up again for lunch at the East Wing dining court, but until then, they were free to do whatever they wanted.

Junhui made his way over to Soonyoung, who was rolling around in the grass much to the younger students' amusement. The amusement quickly turned into alarm when Soonyoung used a little too much force and began tumbling down the hill instead.

"I'll get him." Junhui chuckled, sliding down after his fellow trainee.

Almost all too smoothly, Junhui lightly hopped over Soonyoung's still-spinning body, scooping the other male up into his arms so that they were rolling down at a slightly slower pace, finally coming to stop with Soonyoung lying flat on his back, and Junhui smirking down at him teasingly, his hands on either side of the younger's head, "Gotcha."

"T-thanks..." Soonyoung breathed, pressing the back of his head against the ground in an attempt to increase the distance between their faces so that he wouldn't explode from Junhui's breath brushing gently across his face.

Junhui smiled, touching the tips of his fingers against Soonyoung's cheeks softly, "You're adorable."

"Y-you really think so?" Soonyoung wasn't sure what else to say to that.

"Of course. I adore you." Junhui's smile only grew wider as Soonyoung's face grew redder.

* * *

"He's playing with you." Jihoon said bluntly while looking fairly satisfied with the seating, Jeonghan was of course, sitting next to him with Soonyoung sitting opposite from them.

"Well, it's better than being ignored, right?" Soonyoung insisted, staring at the large pile of food on his plate, trying to decide which direction to start with.

Jeonghan shrugged lightly, "If you're both okay with that, I say go for it."

"Hyung!" Soonyoung's eyes sparkled as Jihoon looked visibly shocked by Jeonghan's betrayal.

"I have to warn you though, there are quite a few bad rumors going around about Jun. He's a great guy to hang with, but he treats his lovers like objects." Jeonghan explained, a thoughtful look on his face, "To put it frankly, he plays with them until he grows tired of them, then eventually throws them away. The typical egoistic playboy story, if you will."

"I'll take that as a compliment." The three jumped slightly at Junhui's voice as the slightly tanned male took a seat next to Soonyoung, a smile still plastered on his face.

"Jun, sorry..." Jeonghan glanced at the younger boy apologetically.

"No need to apologize, since it's true." Junhui shrugged, munching on a slice of pizza, "I'd like to explain myself though. Before I get into a relationship, I always ask for their consent regarding me playing around, and they always agree to it, so I don't understand why people are getting upset about it."

Jihoon raised an eyebrow at this. Junhui wasn't wrong, but at the same time... there was nothing to agree about regarding his statement either.

"I won't get upset!" Soonyoung piped up immediately much to Jihoon's surprise.

Junhui laughed, ruffling Soonyoung's hair affectionately, "Thanks, but I can't go out with you. Soonyoung's too precious to me."

Jihoon relaxed a little, at least Junhui had the sense to reject Soonyoung before he gets completely destroyed, even though the latter looked visibly upset by the immediate rejection. If Junhui noticed, he didn't show any reaction to it.

Wonwoo looked around for an open seat, then caught sight of Chan sitting with two other boys whom he remembered as Hansol and Seungkwan from the introductions earlier.

"Hi, mind if I sit here?" Wonwoo asked politely, coming up behind Chan and putting an arm on the younger's shoulder gently to get his attention.

"Huh? O-oh, no, go ahead!" Chan stammered, quickly moving his chair to make room for the upperclassman.

"Oh, you must be the savior Chan's been telling us for the past hour." Hansol smiled, ignoring Chan's death glare as he leaned forward to shake hands with Wonwoo.

"Really? What did you say about me?" Wonwoo looked over at Chan, a small smile on his face.

"I just, I-" Chan stuttered, staring down at his food, imagining all the different ways he could murder Hansol from under the table without the others knowing.

Wonwoo chuckled, patting Chan's head, suddenly noticing that it was the first time he's seen him with his cap off, "Why do you always wear a cap, by the way? I noticed that you wear it even indoors."

"Oh..." Chan ran a hand through his hair bashfully, "I look like a kid, so... I don't want people looking down on me just because of my childish features."

"You shouldn't try to hide yourself because of that, then you'd be admitting to that handicap. People who think less of you because of your appearance are the ones who should be hiding." Wonwoo continued to smile gently at the younger boy, playing with a lose strand of hair he managed to catch between his fingers, "Besides, I quite like how you look. It's very much my type."

Chan just gaped at Wonwoo, at a loss for words.

* * *

Junhui groaned in his sleep, stretching his arm forward. He could almost feel it... that pale skin under his nails, the way his slender neck would fit between his palms as he squeezed down, wondering what sort of obscene sounds would come out of that pretty mouth if he dug his teeth in, how fulfilling it would be to just _taste_ him... He needed him now. He needed to put a cage around him, so that no one else could touch him. No one else should be permitted to see the light emitted. He should shine solely for Junhui. He wished that he could swallow him up in his own darkness, so that no one would dare to steal him away...

"Shit!" Junhui sat up in his bed, panting heavily and feeling cold sweat pouring down his back as he looked down at his hands in horror.

"Jun?" Wonwoo rubbed his eyes sleepily, turning on the lamp sitting next to his bed, "You okay there?"

"Yeah, just a bad dream." Junhui replied, his voice slightly shaky at the memory of how vivid the dream's imagery was.

"Ah, another one of those, huh?" Wonwoo sighed, sliding out of his bed and walking over to his friend, putting a blanket over Junhui's trembling body, "Was it about Soonyoung?"

Junhui nodded, feeling the tips of his fingers go numb as Wonwoo gently cradled his shoulders.

"Hey, it'll be okay."

"I can't forget it, Wonwoo. I might lose him to someone else if I don't act soon, but if I do, I might end up losing him anyway, because..."

"I know, I know." Wonwoo rubbed circles into Junhui's back soothingly.

"It's just so hard... I didn't think we'd see each other again after middle school, and when I saw him again, I thought I wouldn't let him out of my sight again, but now..."

"I understand..." Wonwoo hummed gently, nuzzling close to Junhui.

"What's wrong with me, Wonwoo?"

Wonwoo sighed again, letting silence fall between them for a couple of seconds before shifting the topic slightly, "If it makes you feel any better, I told Chan I liked his appearance after he told me about his insecurities of looking like a child."

"Oh my god, you pedophile."

"I know, right?" Wonwoo ran a tired hand through his hair, "There goes my chance, huh?"

"I knew you liked him!" Junhui said triumphantly, tackling Wonwoo with a hug, "This is great! Now we're both stuck in a hopeless crush situation."

Wonwoo rolled his eyes, but nonetheless patted Junhui on the back, "It's probably hopeless for me, but I think you'll be fine."

Junhui's smiled slipped again, "I can't afford to hurt him, Wonwoo. I just can't."

"Jun-"

"I mean, I'm grateful that you have that much trust in me, but I... I'm not ready." Junhui slowly slipped away from Wonwoo and back into his sheets, sighing heavily.

Wonwoo's pressed his lips into a hard line. It seemed there was nothing more he could do for now.

* * *

"What exactly is his deal?" Jihoon scowled as Junhui decided to opt out on breakfast, leaving the other three to eat without him, "He had his hands all over Soonyoung before, and now he's avoiding him altogether?"

"I'm sure he has his own reasons." Soonyoung said, trying to sound cheerful as he munched on a burger.

"Yeah, Jun is abnormally scared of unfaithfulness in lovers." Wonwoo explained calmly, much to Jihoon's surprise. The man gave away that information way too easily, especially since it concerned his roommate and claimed best friend.

"Abnormally? Isn't it natural to be anxious?"

"I don't care what sort of image you guys have of him from the rumors, but Jun is very serious when it comes to someone he truly loves. He becomes too emotionally invested in his partner, and so when the last person he was in love with left him for someone else, it honestly took a toll on him." Wonwoo continued, "That's why he prefers to play around now, because he's scared of commitment."

"I see... well, thanks for telling m-"

"He's also set a rule for himself, to never date the one he loves." Wonwoo looked straight at Soonyoung as he said this, "On one hand, he's scared of getting hurt again, and on the other hand, he's also scared of hurting his loved one due to his possessive nature that was developed after the emotional damage left by his previous lover."

"I'm really sorry to hear that, I guess everyone does have their own thing to deal with." Jihoon commented, looking genuinely upset for talking bad about Junhui earlier, "Right, Soonyoung? ...Soonyoung?" He turned to look at his roommate, but the boy was no where to be seen.

* * *

"Wonwoo? Are you back already? That was way too fast-" Junhui mumbled, coming to open the door after hearing rapid knocking, "Soonyoung? What are you-" His sentence was cut off as Soonyoung tackled him to the ground, trapping him in a tight embrace, "Hey, what's all this?" Junhui chuckled weakly, patting Soonyoung on the back gingerly.

"I'm sorry! I wish I had more courage to talk to you when we were younger, then maybe I could have been there to support you through that awful breakup."

"...So Wonwoo told you?" Junhui sighed, still patting Soonyoung robotically, "He just doesn't know how to mind his own business."

"I'm just... so sorry for not being there for you..."

Junhui chuckled, "That's nothing to apologize for, it was inevitable anyway. Besides, it was a long time ago already, I shouldn't let it get to me anymore, don't you think I'm childish?" He lifted Soonyoung's face up slightly, and laughed softly when he saw tears streaming down the latter's face, "Hey, it's my problem, why are you the one crying?"

When Soonyoung's tears showed no signs of stopping at all, Junhui brought the latter's face closer and softly trailed kisses along the salty tear tracks, "This is why I said you're too precious. Geez, what did I ever do to deserve you?"

After Soonyoung's sobbing had quieted down, and the two had moved onto cuddling against a beanbag sofa in the corner of the room, Junhui gently took the younger's hands in his as Soonyoung tucked himself snugly under Junhui's shoulder, snuggling comfortably against the older's chest.

"I didn't think I'd see you again. To be honest, I knew you had a crush on me, but you know... I thought you probably just liked my looks like everyone else." Junhui explained, speaking in a soft tone, "It was a shame, because I found you extremely cute, especially since I see you around school, always with the same cheerful smile on. You seemed so... bright. Being the stupid middle schooler I was, I thought, well, people like you shouldn't hang around people like me, so I never made a move. Now I regret it."

"I regret it, too..." Soonyoung mumbled, a light blush on is cheeks as he listened to Junhui's reminiscence.

"So I thought it must be fate for us to meet again, but then it became torture since I wasn't able to touch you as much as I wanted to because... you know." Junhui laughed lightheartedly, brushing his fingers over Soonyoung's cheeks.

"Well, you don't have to hold back anymore." Soonyoung said, tilting his head up to meet Junhui's loving gaze.

"We'll see." Junhui sighed, planting a soft kiss against Soonyoung's temple, "We'll see."

* * *

"Well, well, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Wonwoo said, entering the room shortly after Junhui walked Soonyoung back to his, which was only a couple steps away, but Junhui was insistent.

Junhui was silent as he looked over at Wonwoo, a dangerous smirk playing on his lips as he tucked his hands in his pockets nonchalantly, but the action somehow made Wonwoo tense up, "Yeah... _I've finally caught him_."

 


	3. The Game of the Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team meetings are fun, especially when your trainees are clearly smitten.  
> Soonyoung falls deeper into Hell.  
> Junhui tries and fails to be a good bro, but hey, it's the thought that counts?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a little more WonChan heavy because I'm, uh... starting to kind of like this dynamic and wanted to try writing more with it lol

"And this is the Hall of Music where as the name suggests, all the musical artsy stuff is showcased... Also, it's where Jihoon does his part-time job on the soundboard, so if you ever need free tickets for concerts here, just hit him up." Soonyoung explained as Jisoo had entrusted him to be the guide for the segment after breakfast.

Jihoon rolled his eyes, "Don't listen to him, I will provide no such service."

"You did it for Jeonghan-hyung though..."

Before Jihoon could murder Soonyoung right then and there with just his glare, they were interrupted by bustling coming from the entrance and a very cheerful Junhui came up to wrap his arms around Soonyoung's waist, kissing the top of Soonyoung's head lovingly, "Hey, you."

Soonyoung blushed deeply as Junhui's breath tickled his ear, he really thought he was going to die, which wouldn't be so bad since he'd be at least dying in Junhui's arms, "Hey..."

"Anyway, since the other team is apparently already done with their tour, I guess we should wrap things up here as well." Jihoon cut in, literally pushing the idiot couple out of his way, "Any last minute questions?"

"Ah, yes, any questions about what we've seen up until now?" Wonwoo added, looking towards his own group.

Minghao's arm immediately shot up. Once he got permission to speak from the junior trainee, he pointed towards Junhui and Soonyoung, "Are they banging?"

"Oh my fucking god." Jihoon threw his hands up, storming out of the space, cursing the leadership activity credit requirement with a string of swear words that Soonyoung didn't even know existed. Jihoon was a mysterious being indeed.

"Yes." Wonwoo replied curtly with a scarily deadpan expression.

"We're not!" Soonyoung protested from his unconvincing position in Junhui's arms.

"Not yet." Junhui replied, showing his usual teasing smirk.

"I will have to deduct points on you guys for going off topic." Jeonghan said remorsefully from the side, but Wonwoo swore the older student probably felt very satisfied with deducting points, his sadistic nature was almost on par to Junhui's even though he did a better job at hiding it.

"It wasn't off topic though, our Xiao Haohao here asked about it!" Junhui protested, still holding onto Soonyoung relentlessly.

Minghao rolled his eyes while Soonyoung felt a tightening feeling in his chest. It's only Day 3 and Junhui already seemed close with the new students. Well, he was pretty good at socializing after all, but he didn't think he'd have to worry about him shifting interest _this_ soon...

"What are you thinking about?" Junhui's low whisper suddenly cut through his thoughts.

"Huh? N-nothing!" Soonyoung replied quickly, his blush only becoming deeper by the second.

Junhui thought it was endearing how easily Soonyoung allowed his emotions to be read, teasing him became a hobby. He enjoyed how Soonyoung's smile would visibly fall when Junhui chooses to seat himself next to Minghao, or how he'd tense up when Junhui puts an arm around Wonwoo, or when Junhui and Mingyu would talk about how much fun it was making such-and-such together last night, etc.

"I'm telling you, he's a playboy." Jihoon had gone back to doubting Junhui's feelings towards his best friend, but Soonyoung thought it was probably just a distraction for Jeonghan's neglect.

"I trust him though." Soonyoung replied, playing with the food on his plate, "You heard Wonwoo, he's had it rough. I feel happy just holding the title of his lover."

Jihoon rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Don't come crying to me when you finally catch him cheating on you."

"Aw, you're worried about me~ thanks, Jihoonie~" Soonyoung cooed, nudging Jihoon's shoulder playfully.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the dining court, Junhui's eyes narrowed, his mouth forming a thin line as he glared at Soonyoung and Jihoon's interaction. He had no idea what they were saying, but there was no way he was going to allow Soonyoung to show that smile to someone else. Now that he thought about it, how many others have already been graced by that angelic presence before Junhui came along? Just thinking about it made his blood boil...

"Jun." Wonwoo tapped Junhui's shoulder lightly, gesturing towards the laptop screen in front of them, "The schedule."

"Oh, sorry." Was what he said, but the taller boy still didn't turn around to focus.

Sighing, Wonwoo closed the laptop, guess he had to deal with this first, "Jealousy? Really? So it's fine if you do it to him, but it's not okay if he does it to you, huh? You do understand that this could become a pretty abusive relationship, right?"

Junhui returned the sigh, "I know that, but I can't help it..."

"Well, you better find a way to help it." Wonwoo responded coldly, "I'm about done being your babysitter."

"Hm, maybe this isn't about me being jealous over Soonyoung, or Soonyoung being jealous over me... It's about _you_ being jealous over me!" Junhui teased, ignoring Wonwoo's disgusted expression, "Aw, don't worry~ I won't ever forget my best bud!"

"I can assure you that it's 100% not the case."

"Or~ maybe you're just jealous of _us_ in general." Junhui's narrowed as Wonwoo opened his mouth, but closed it again, "Whoa, seriously? So no progress with you and that cute freshman, huh?"

"How could there be after our last conversation?" Wonwoo scoffed, unconsciously looking towards Chan's direction. The latter seemed to be immersed in some sort of discussion with his roommates, probably exchanging today's team experience.

"Hm..." Junhui suddenly pulled Wonwoo up from his seat and dragged the latter towards the three freshmen.

"Jun, Jun, if you try to do anything funny, I swear to-"

"Yo! If you guys have any trouble finding classes, bus routes, or _dates_ , feel free to ask this guy!" Junhui jabbed his thumb towards Wonwoo as the latter literally wore a face of death.

Obviously shook by the sudden and odd interruption, Chan, Hansol, and Seungkwan looked up at the two upperclassmen, unsure of how to respond.

"I'm so sorry about him, he's had too much to drink... Coffee, I mean." Wonwoo added, noticing how the freshmen seemed to tense up and probably wondering to themselves if they were the so-called dangerous people they needed to look out for in college.

"Oh wait, you guys are the junior trainees from my team." Seungkwan finally noticed, "Sorry, didn't recognize you at first because..." _of how normal you seemed to be in the morning,_ he nearly added.

Wonwoo sighed, "Yeah, extra lesson... no matter how stressful it becomes around here, stay away from coffee."

Chan chuckled softly at this while Seungkwan and Hansol raised their brows, not sure if it was a joke or not due to Wonwoo's deadpan expression.

* * *

"It was meant to be." Junhui gushed as they hung out in the West Wing lobby with Jihoon and Soonyoung, the Linguistics major obviously had his arm locked around Soonyoung's neck securely while sitting far away from Jihoon despite the latter constantly reminding him that he had a boyfriend already and wasn't interested in a nut job like Soonyoung anyway.

"How can you still say that when you probably made his friends turn against us?" Wonwoo groaned, sinking deep into the sofa's cushion, "I bet they're telling all their friends about 'the creepy upperclassmen who tried to hit on them' right now."

"Dude, he laughed at your joke. No one else has ever laughed at your jokes before."

"I'm sure he was just being polite." Wonwoo rolled his eyes, again, ignoring Junhui's condescending comment.

"No, I agree with Jun for once. No one would laugh at your jokes even if it's just being polite, don't ever let go of this kid, Wonwoo." Jihoon said from the side.

"Not you, too..." Wonwoo sighed, getting up from his seat, "I'm going out for a run."

"Okay, don't you think it would be romantic if you met him while jogging? You'll have to admit it's fate then." Junhui called as Wonwoo left the lobby, thinking of how in the world he became friends with such a ridiculous-

"Son of a bitch." Wonwoo cursed as he stepped out of the door, and sure enough, Chan was there, seemingly waiting for someone.

Catching sight of Wonwoo, the younger's eyes lightened up slightly. Wonwoo watched as Chan jogged across the street, panting slightly when he reached him, "I was hoping I'd catch you."

"What's wrong? Need help with directions again?" Wonwoo smiled gently as Chan let out the same soft chuckle as the one during dinner.

"No, well, I just-"

"You're not wearing your cap." Wonwoo noted, running a hand through the soft strands of hair almost entirely by instinct.

A slight blush appeared on Chan's cheeks, but he made no action that suggested he wanted Wonwoo to stop as he continued to explain himself, "Actually, um... my friends dared me into this."

"A dare?" Wonwoo raised an eyebrow, ignoring the disappointment he felt as his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach.

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind, but I have to take a selca with you..." Chan continued, pulling out his phone.

"Oh, sure, I don't mind." Wonwoo shrugged nonchalantly, putting his face close to the younger boy as he positioned the camera carefully.

"As expected, you're very photogenic..." Chan muttered, checking over the picture.

"Thank you. Well, if that was all..."

"Ah, yeah! Thank you very much for helping me out with the dare!" Chan bowed slightly, "I'll be heading back now!"

"Be careful." Wonwoo replied, giving his underclassman another soft smile before jogging away.

Chan looked back down at the selfie with Wonwoo, secretly making it his homescreen wallpaper.

* * *

"Well, if you really want someone, I can laugh at your jokes, Wonwoo!" Soonyoung offered when the latter returned with the same sullen look he had on when he left. Of course, Junhui was quick to make sure that didn't happen by sending a glare over at Wonwoo and holding Soonyoung closer to him on his lap, causing Jihoon to make gagging noises on the side, then proceeded to pretend he was choking on coffee. Wonwoo wondered why Jihoon was the one addicted to caffeine, yet Soonyoung was the hyper one...

"I have to hand it to you this time, Jun, you were right. He actually showed up." Wonwoo admitted, making his way towards the sofa.

"Whoa, really? What did I tell ya, huh?" Junhui grinned triumphantly, "So when are you finally going to ask him out?"

"When he's of legal age."

"What... it's not like you can't date him until then, you know... Or is our Wonwoo actually a beast and he won't be able to control himself?" Junhui teased, reaching over to pinch Wonwoo in the cheeks only to feel Soonyoung squirm uncomfortably in his arms, as though he was trying to stop Junhui from performing skinship with others.

Wonwoo rolled his eyes, "Don't confuse me with yourself."

"Hey, I'm being very patient, right, Soonyoung?" Junhui looked down at his lover, wondering if he was just thinking too much about what happened earlier. Sure, it was fun seeing Soonyoung's obvious expression change by making him jealous, but Junhui didn't expect him to actually take action.

"Huh? Y-yeah..." Soonyoung stuttered, relaxing his body again.

Junhui was sure he wasn't imagining it now. A slow smirk began to appear on his face as he wondered just how much further he would have to push it until Soonyoung reached the point of desperation...

"I think we should turn in for today. Got to wake up early tomorrow, as always." Wonwoo suddenly said, getting up and indicating for Junhui to follow after him.

"When you're right, you're right, I guess." Junhui shrugged, reluctantly letting go of Soonyoung, not before sending him off with a kiss on the forehead, of course, "I'll see you first thing in the morning."

"No, you'll see Wonwoo first." Jihoon rolled his eyes, just about done with the idiot couple.

Junhui flashed his phone lockscreen at Jihoon, it was a picture of Soonyoung sleeping, or more like, cutely holding onto his pillow and refusing to get up from bed. Triumphant from having proven his point, Junhui ran off after Wonwoo to their room.

"That guy is dangerous." Jihoon insisted to Soonyoung as they headed back to their room as well.

"He's so romantic..."

"You can't be serious." Jihoon sighed.

Meanwhile in the next room over, Wonwoo looked down at Junhui's already tossing and turning figure, the latter looked visibly discomforted by whatever he was seeing in his dream, cold sweat already covered most of his neck as his hands grabbed for thin air, "Well... _I guess you got what you wished for but you lost what you had._ "

 


	4. Lullaby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Jihoon and Wonwoo as witnesses, Soonyoung and Junhui finally sit down and have a proper conversation about their relationship.

"Can we run through that?" Chan asked, pointing at the giant fountain set in the center of a ring-shaped outdoors stadium.

"On the last day, so be patient. It's only Day 4." Jisoo smiled, glad to see that his students seemed enthusiastic about the trip today. It was a beautiful day, the classical sun is shining, birds are chirping scenario. There seems to be tension going on among the trainees though, but when Jisoo asked Jeonghan if they should send the four home for the day, the latter insisted that they needed to stay in order to earn full credit for their leadership activity section.

Junhui was being abnormally clingy to Minghao, and Soonyoung looked, well, it didn't seem like he was mad, but he was abnormally quiet for the entire day.

"If it makes you uncomfortable, you guys should probably talk about it." Jihoon had urged while keeping a close eye on the new students in case one of them tried to sneak a dip in the fountain.

"But what if he thinks I'm too controlling and breaks up with me? That seems to be the reason why he dumped his previous partners..." Soonyoung replied, sullenly staring at the water droplets clinging to his water bottle.

"Controlling? That guy is the controlling one, have you seen the way he looks at people who stand within a meter near you?" Jihoon arched an eyebrow, nudging towards Junhui's direction. Sure enough, the latter was giving Jihoon a death glare, all the while still clinging to Minghao, however.

"Well..."

"That's it, you guys are going to sit down, and have a serious conversation about this." Jihoon stood up, "Right after we get the kids rounded up."

* * *

Wonwoo watched as Jihoon pressed both Soonyoung and Junhui into chairs on opposite sides of the table, for a moment, Jihoon actually considered tying them up in case it got ugly, but Wonwoo managed to talk him out of it.

"We are gathered here to-"

"Aw, Jihoon, are you going to officiate our wedding for us? How sweet!" Junhui smiled cheekily at the smaller boy as the latter glared daggers in return.

"Let me try that again. You two need to talk about your fucked up relationship."

Soonyoung looked across the table at Junhui, it wasn't a huge distance, but the taller boy did seem quite far away in his eyes as his usual smile slipped.

"I don't see anything wrong with it." Junhui replied, but his voice was abnormally cool.

Jihoon looked towards Wonwoo, who pulled out a notebook from pretty much nowhere, putting on his reading glasses in the process, "Jun has been experiencing extreme controlling behavior and torturing Soonyoung by purposely making him jealous."

"Sounding a bit too much like a lawsuit but at the same time not there, Wonwoo." Junhui muttered, but still didn't turn to look at Soonyoung even once.

"Soonyoung, do you have any input?" Jihoon looked down at his friend a little too menacingly.

"Um, well... you do seem to be... playing around..." Soonyoung mumble the last bit, he wasn't sure if Junhui even heard him since the latter didn't make a sound or show any signs of acknowledging his statement.

After a moment of awkward silence, Soonyoung glanced up, wondering if he should repeat his sentence, but all he saw was a smirking Junhui.

"That's so cute..."

Wonwoo hit Junhui over the head with his notebook, "I know that's not what you want to say, out with it. A relationship is based upon trust-"

"And of course you'd know that." Junhui rolled his eyes as Wonwoo merely shut his mouth, glancing behind him to make sure the freshmen were way out of earshot of their table. It seemed strange that they were doing this in the dining court anyway, and it felt like they didn't go anywhere else besides the dining court and their dorm aside from the usual tours around campus.

Soonyoung looked at Junhui with his round earnest eyes, "Jun, if there's something going on, I'd really like it if you told me..."

Sighing, the taller boy ran a hand through his hair, looking extremely tired, "There is nothing going on, I guess I'm just easily jealous with a horrible personality. I mean, I'd totally understand it if you want to break up with me right now-"

"We're not breaking up!" Soonyoung immediately shouted, maybe a little too loudly as a couple of heads turned to glance towards their table. He finally felt slightly embarrassed when Junhui's eyes grew wider at Soonyoung's outburst, but it was too late, "It's not something we can't work through, I refuse to give up on this relationship this easily! I mean, if you're that ready to end things with me, I guess I can't blame you since I'm dull, stupid, and completely oblivious to everything, but-"

"Soonyoung, I think you and I both know that the problem is with me, not you." Junhui smiled gently, reaching over to place a finger against Soonyoung's lips. "I'm sorry, I'm just... so scared of losing you. I'm scared that you'll find someone else better than me and leave, so instead of that, I'd much rather it be under predictable circumstances where I break up with you or you visibly become tired of me."

"I will never become tired of you..." Soonyoung muttered, sliding his fingers between Junhui's, kissing the back of the latter's hand softly, "That's why I need you to trust me... Besides, if we're talking about being jealous, I think I'm the same."

"What?"

"I didn't want to say it since I thought you'd find it annoying, but... it really bothers me when you cling to someone else." Soonyoung mumbled, glancing away with a red face, as though he had just admitted to something shameful.

Junhui merely laughed, "I've noticed. It's very cute to watch." Soonyoung began to protest, but Junhui continued on, "I understand though, I'll try to turn the teasing down." Leaning over slightly and bring Soonyoung's face closer to his, Junhui whispered softly, "In return, you shall be mine forever."

"Jun..."

"I wanted you guys to have a healthy conversation, not an entire soap opera scene." Jihoon cut in, shoving the two apart rudely.

"Hey, don't take your lack of moments with Jeonghan-hyung out on us!" Soonyoung whined, his arms flapping at his side to balance himself as his chair nearly tipped over from the force.

Wonwoo on the other hand already lost interest and was now looking towards the freshmen table again, unfortunately for him, this didn't escape Junhui's or Seungkwan's eyes.

"Psst, he's looking over here again." Seungkwan whispered to Chan, pulling his head in close and taking extra care not to let the junior catch their conversation, "You have to admit it now, he totally has a crush on you, too!"

"Shut up, he does not, he's a junior." Chan rolled his eyes, prying Seungkwan's arm off his shoulders.

"Yeah, maybe he has a crush on me." Hansol laughed as Seungkwan turned to glare at him, "What? I was obviously joking."

"Obviously." Seungkwan scoffed, then turned his attention back to Chan, "Try striking up a conversation with him next time!"

"Well, I did get his number, and we started chatting a while ago..." Chan mumbled reluctantly, because he knew his friends were going to make a big deal about it. Of course, both of them did a spit take.

"Say something that important sooner!"

"And? What happened?" Hansol prompted, clearly in a much calmer state than Seungkwan.

"Nothing much... we both like rap, and we were both in hip hop related clubs in high school..."

"Really? That guy likes rap?" Hansol looked towards Wonwoo, who was now immersed in reading his own notes for whatever lecture he had tomorrow. He looked like a classical bookworm to Hansol... "Actually, I can sort of see the emo streak."

Chan rolled his eyes, sure, Wonwoo often dressed in dark colors, and his default expression appears stoic, but Chan was initially surprised by the amount of emoticons and emoji Wonwoo used in chat... "He's not emo, okay?"

"Whoa, no need to be defensive." Hansol smirked, putting up his hands in a surrendering position.

"Protective boyfriend." Seungkwan coughed into his elbow.

"Like I said, that's not it." Chan rolled his eyes, glancing over his shoulder towards Wonwoo's direction. To his surprise, the latter had apparently taken a break from his studying and was now looking back in his direction. Just like that, their eyes accidentally met, only for a millisecond as Chan quickly flinched his gaze away.

If Chan hadn't turned away so quickly, he would have seen Junhui playfully nudging his friend and muttering encouraging words to him before turning to give Soonyoung a quick peck to make up for the "intimate moment" with Wonwoo.

While Wonwoo was happy for his friend, he would definitely appreciate it more if they toned down the romance a bit. He felt the same way as Jihoon, but he just wasn't as expressive about it. He wasn't openly expressive about a lot of things, actually, which was why he enjoyed writing more than speaking, reading more than perhaps listening to a noisy conversation he had no interest in. He continued to sit there, picking up only slight wisps of the freshmen's conversation, and he would sit up a little more whenever Chan's voice came into the mix of chatters. He figured that he wouldn't mind listening to Chan's voice all day, at least.

* * *

 

"You should have made a move." Junhui said, a look of disappointment on his face when they returned to their room.

"Yeah, Wonwoo! You need to be more aggressive!" Soonyoung added, borrowing one of Junhui's pillows to cuddle. The overly hyper co-trainee was apparently staying over due to Jihoon's "personal reasons", although it was heavily hinted that a certain senior was coming over, "Like, seriously, you're just a blank-faced teddy bear."

Wonwoo arched an eyebrow at the comparison, that was a first. More like, he didn't have any close enough friends who could tell him that. To be honest, he didn't really have any close friends aside from Junhui, and now Soonyoung and Jihoon. Most of his classmates stayed away from him due to his stoic appearance, some distanced themselves from him possibly due to jealousy of his popularity among the girls as well.

Although lately he's been getting along fairly well with Mingyu due to Junhui forcing him to join in on one of their cooking sessions. Mingyu seemed like the eccentric type, but not enough to scare Wonwoo away, apparently. Maybe he should start hanging out with him instead of these guys, at least he wouldn't bother him about his crush... Then again, if he did happen to find out, it'd be 200x more troublesome.

"Don't think about getting out of this one, man." Junhui shook his head, seemingly able to read Wonwoo's mind.

"I think it's too soon." Wonwoo replied dryly, getting ready to turn off the lamp near his bedside, "And you guys should get to bed. I believe we've established the boundaries..."

"Yes, yes, no shady stuff under the covers." Junhui rolled his eyes, gesturing for Soonyoung to crawl under the covers with him. After the latter was tucked snugly in Junhui's arms, and Wonwoo was sure that all they were doing was playing big spoon and little spoon, only then were the lights turned off.

"If I hear anything suggestive at all coming from your direction, I swear I'll kick you both out."

"We get it, Grandpa."

"We should really get him hooked up with Chan soon, then he'll probably leave us alone..." Soonyoung muttered, voice slightly muffled.

"I'll also kick you out if I hear one more word about Chan." Wonwoo grumbled, his eyelids drooping.

"Geez... you need to learn and _take a leap of faith_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think we're out of the woods for now with the dark stuff.


	5. Something in the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the end of orientation draws closer, the honeymoon stage of Soonyoung and Junhui's relationship is just beginning. Unfortunately the same can't be said for Wonwoo and Chan.

"As promised, we are going to run through the fountain today!" Jeonghan announced as the students began to gather near the said fountain. The sun was shining, not a cloud in sight, it was a perfect day for the activity.

As the students lined up near the edge, none were quite sure where to start or who was going to take the first step. Suddenly, Junhui scooped up Soonyoung and ran straight to the center of the fountain, twirling the younger male around playfully as the latter choked on his own laughter, and later on the water shooting up from the ground. After making sure his lover was okay, Junhui mercilessly dumped him in the center while escaping to dry land himself as the dancing water changed formations.

"Jun, you bastar-" Soonyoung shouted before getting sprayed with a faceful of water as the rest of the students laughed.

Junhui was eventually pushed into the fountain by Wonwoo, who in turn, was pushed in by Mingyu, followed by Minghao and Seokmin. Before long, the fountain became a battlefield to see who could remain the driest as the boys splashed water at or pushed and shoved each other.

Chan aimed towards Hansol, but received a cold splash from behind instead. Turning around to glare at his attacker, his scowl quickly melted into a grin as he caught sight of Wonwoo's beaming face, looking proud of his successful ambush.

Before Chan could perform his revenge, the junior had already vanished into the group behind him, something he was extremely talented in doing. Over the past week, Chan had trained himself to have practically hawk-eyes just so he could pick out where Wonwoo was from a crowd, but apparently his training wasn't enough as he didn't get even a single glance of Wonwoo afterwards, even when Jisoo rounded up the students and told them to take a break before the closing ceremony.

A sense of desperation suddenly gripped onto Chan's heart, somehow, he felt that if he didn't catch him now, he won't have another chance.

* * *

"It's finally over~!" Soonyoung sighed, falling onto his bed as soon as they entered. The four trainees were having a gathering in Jihoon and Soonyoung's room as a small celebration for a job well done.

"It's kind of a relief, huh?" Junhui chuckled, playfully throwing himself on top of Soonyoung, causing the latter to let out a wail at the additional weight. However, he quickly started to erupt into giggles when Junhui softly nuzzled Soonyoung's neck affectionately.

Jihoon made a disgusted face at the couple, making his way towards his desk after putting the newly bought junk food on the table, "Why don't you guys just move in together? We could switch rooms."

"Aw, that's so nice of you, Jihoonie!"

"No thanks, classes are starting soon and it'd be dangerous to have the additional distraction." Junhui said, adoringly patting Soonyoung's cheek as the latter pouted.

Before Jihoon could make a snide remark about their overly fuzzy atmosphere, Wonwoo's phone buzzed from the table. The other three quickly snapped their heads towards the notification screen, but before they could read the chat's contents, Wonwoo had snatched it away.

"So how is the cute freshman doing?" Junhui teased, looking up at Wonwoo from his new location on the floor.

"That wasn't him."

"Please. You only have three contacts, I'm pretty sure your mom doesn't use that app, and I didn't send you anything, so it has to be Chan."

Soonyoung looked at Wonwoo with wide eyes, "Wait, you seriously only have three contacts? You can add Jihoon and me, I mean, he doesn't reply much, but still..."

"I don't reply to _you_ much. I told you, my phone is for emergencies only, not for looking at cat pictures." Jihoon griped, but nonetheless keyed in his contact information when the phone was passed to him.

"Anyway... How are you and Chan doing?" Junhui asked, slightly exasperated by the brief interruption.

"Same as always. Might be for the best, I'll be busy with classes- Jun, what are you doing?" Wonwoo's slacked shoulders quickly tensed up when Junhui took the phone from Jihoon after the latter was done with it.

"Hello? Chan, this is Wonwoo."

Soonyoung had to suck in a breath to stop himself from doubling over with laughter at Junhui's rendition of Wonwoo's voice. It was actually pretty convincing, just uncharacteristically low. Jihoon rolled his eyes, but a glimmer of amusement can be seen from them as Wonwoo stood frozen in his spot.

And just like that, Junhui managed to set up a date for him and Chan, although the older boy insisted that they shouldn't think of it as a date, but a casual meet-up. In any case, one thing lead to another, and Junhui had somehow managed to drag Wonwoo to the promised location, an on-campus coffee shop and disappeared himself. Who were we kidding? He was probably hiding in a bush somewhere just waiting for Wonwoo to mess up.

Wonwoo wondered if he should just tell Chan the truth, apologize and bail out-

"Hyung!" Chan called, stepping towards Wonwoo's table his breath was slightly breathy, and his cheeks were slightly flushed. All thoughts of making up an excuse and leaving left Wonwoo's head at the sight of the younger male. Somehow, he always seemed out of breath when they meet up, and the idea that perhaps Chan was eager about meeting him made Wonwoo feel just a little flattered, "Did you wait long?"

"Not at all." Wonwoo smiled gently as Chan took a seat opposite from him, he watched as Chan fumbled with the menu slightly, clearly nervous. It was honestly incredibly endearing.

"O-oh, did you order already?" Chan asked, flipping through the pages, then sighed in relief when Wonwoo shook his head.

The rest of their date- _casual meet-up_ , went fairly well. They talked about how their roommates annoyed them, Wonwoo made sure to make himself audible enough so that the bush next to him could hear and smiled with satisfaction when he heard the leaves rustle. Then they talked about hip-hop, Chan became particularly enthusiastic about the topic and even pulled up a couple of videos of his performances back in the club for Wonwoo.

Wonwoo watched as the younger boy's eyes sparkled, clearly proud of his own work, and Wonwoo had to admit that he was definitely talented.

"I mean, it was more of a dance club than a rap club, but- sorry, am I talking too much?" A light pink dusted Chan's cheek as he pulled away slightly, suddenly feeling embarrassed about his rambling.

"No, don't worry about it." Wonwoo smiled, resting his chin on a prompted up arm, "It's always great to talk about things you enjoy."

Chan nodded, his body relaxing slightly under Wonwoo's gentle gaze, "What do you enjoy talking about, hyung?"

"Books."

"I guess I should have known..." Wonwoo laughed at Chan's pout, the kid was too adorable.

"...Hyung, you seem quite popular, but have you ever been in a relationship before?"

"No."

Chan's eyes widened slightly at the fast and curt response, "W-why not?"

"I'm not really into that sort of stuff, I guess." Wonwoo shrugged, "After seeing how all of Jun's relationships crashed and burned, it might have affected me more than I thought."

"Oh... Jun-hyung, huh..." Chan mused, tilting his head to the side, "You two really care about each other."

"Kind of hard not to. He's always getting himself in trouble, if I don't watch him- what are you smiling at?" Wonwoo stopped to scowl at Chan's amused expression.

"When you talk about Jun-hyung, your eyes become very gentle. I'm kind of jealous- I mean, uh, just forget it..." Chan stammered, suddenly pushing himself up from his seat, "I think I'm going to see if they have more ice..." before Wonwoo could say anything to that, the younger boy had already darted towards the counter.

Wonwoo just stared after him, listening to the uncomfortable scuffling coming from the bush next to him. He decided to distract himself by checking if anyone texted him, not that it was likely though...

But to his surprise, his mailbox was flooded with messages from Soonyoung inquiring him about how the date was going, seemingly very worried. There was one more text from an unknown contact, maybe it was just spam mail. Upon opening it though, Wonwoo realized it was Mingyu, explaining that he got his number from Junhui. Of course.

Following his introductory text, Mingyu then asked if Wonwoo would like to go down to his kitchen and cook with him. Just when he was about to politely decline the offer since he was on a date with Chan, he looked up to see Chan engaged in a conversation with whom Wonwoo recognized as one of his roommates, the one that was on Jisoo's team.

Chan appears to be blushing all over, playfully hitting the other boy's shoulder as Hansol simply laughed, ruffling the shorter boy's hair affectionately. Hm, they seemed close. He remembered Seungkwan mentioning that the three of them were childhood friends, but the way they bantered made it seem like... something more.

Well, of course, maybe Chan didn't actually like him the same way he did, maybe he was just confusing his feeling of admiration for an upperclassman with that of a crush, someone his own age and whose known him for a much longer time was probably more suited for him after all. Besides, if they did go out, it wouldn't be for long... senior year is just one more year away, and before they knew it, it'd be graduation. What would they do then?

His thoughts began to unnerve him so much that Wonwoo had to leave. He felt bad for just dumping Chan there without a single word, but he should be fine with Hansol. Hopefully he will be fine with Hansol.

* * *

 

"Oh, hey, you made it!" Mingyu looked up happily, his apron already messy from whatever he was trying to make earlier, "Whoa, what's with the gloomy aura?"

Wonwoo sighed, sitting down at the counter and slumping over the hard surface, "I hope you're making something spicy."

"Well, no, but I can make you something quick if you want?"

"Thanks..." Wonwoo caught sight of another messy apron hung up on the wall, "Did Jun stop by?" When did he have time to do that? He swore he was spying in that bush...

"Hm? Nah, he said he had something to do today. You know who did stop by though? Chan."

"What?" Wonwoo's head snapped up immediately.

"Yeah, he was super nervous, asking me to teach him how to bake pomegranate cookies. Quite specific, huh? Says the person he likes enjoys pomegranate, and he's worried that they don't eat enough because they're so pale and thin, so..." Mingyu looked over at Wonwoo's bewildered expression, "Oh my god, it's you."

Wonwoo had no choice but to tell Mingyu the whole story, including how he pretty much just abandoned the poor boy at the coffee shop. Well, at least he paid the bill before actually leaving.

"Man, you really blew it," Mingyu shook his head, "Chan asked Hansol to bring him the cookies because he forgot them in his rush to meet you, that's why you saw, well, what you saw."

"Wow, Jun's right, I'm a terrible person." Wonwoo groaned, pressing his face back against the cold counter.

"Also, refrain from talking about Jun, will you? I know you don't have anyone else to talk about since he's probably your only close friend up until just recently, but sometimes you come off as though, well... please don't hit me when I say this, but it's like you're in love with him." Mingyu cringed as he noticed Wonwoo's eyes visibly narrow themselves.

"I'm not."

"We know you're not, but I'm just saying, it can be easily misunderstood, especially to people who don't know you guys as well as the rest of us."

"...I can't believe I'm so pathetic that I'm actually taking counselling lessons from you." Wonwoo grumbled, his glare softening slightly.

"Well, it's not too late, I guess." Mingyu shrugged off Wonwoo's insult.

Pulling out his phone, as expected, he received worried texts from Chan upon noticing his absence. Wonwoo typed up a short apology text with an excuse that he didn't feel well and didn't want Chan to catch his cold, sent. He didn't feel good about lying to him, but some things needed to be said face-to-face instead of over text.

And like Mingyu said, it's not too late, yet.


	6. Shooting Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short chapter to wrap up the WonChan branch.

It had been almost three weeks since his flee from the cafe, and Wonwoo wasn't proud of it. It wasn't like he intentionally avoided Chan, but at the same time, he didn't really try to find him either. There was no way he would still have feelings for him after that incident, right?

"You still have to make things clear, Wonwoo. You probably scarred the poor kid for life." Junhui had advised in a half-joking manner, but Wonwoo wasn't in the mood for Junhui's so-called friendly advice.

He sighed heavily. Tough luck. The one time he actually enjoyed having someone... look up to him? Admire him? He wasn't quite sure, but it couldn't have been romantic.

"Wonwoo-hyung."

He stopped in his tracks. He knew the voice well, it was the one he had been accidentally avoiding for a while. After pausing for another few seconds to see if anything else was going to follow, he figured it was probably his imagination and kept walking.

"Wonwoo-hyung!" This time the yell was accompanied by a hand on his shoulder, so he finally turned. Sure enough, there was Chan, again, looking quite flushed. There was something different about the air around him, however, he didn't seem quite as lost as the wandering freshman Wonwoo had first met him as, rather, he looked like he had matured quite a lot during the short time they've been away from each other.

"Hey, Chan." Wonwoo replied, his tone nonchalant as he smiled, "How's the first month of classes?"

"So fun." Chan responded curtly between pants, looked like he had ran quite a bit trying to catch up to Wonwoo. It wasn't surprising since the older male had much longer legs in comparison, "But more importantly, how have _you_ been?"

Wonwoo's smile froze. This was definitely what they called... a direct confrontation? "...I'm sorry about last time, I shouldn't have left you there." Was the first lame thing he could think of even though it had nothing to do with Chan's question.

Chan blinked rapidly at Wonwoo's response, seemingly thrown off by the randomness of it, "Oh... oh, you don't have to worry about it. I'm sure you had more important things to do than hang out with an underclassman."

"That's not it... I'm sorry, I couldn't face your feelings. More like, I couldn't face my own..." Wonwoo gently reached up a hand and brushed it against Chan's cheek softly, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

The younger boy appeared to be paralyzed for a second, but slowly leaned into Wonwoo's touch, "...No, why don't you say it clearly?"

Wonwoo laughed. _Kids these days..._

* * *

Soonyoung rolled around on his bed, staring at a photo of Junhui he had set as his lock screen background. He sighed heavily.

"All right, that was the fifth time." Jihoon groaned, spinning around on his chair, "What is it now?"

"It's been a month! An entire month! He hasn't called me once!" Soonyoung exclaimed, leaping up from his bed and grabbing Jihoon by the shoulders, his eyes extremely wide as he stared down at his roommate.

As he looked back calmly into Soonyoung's crazy eyes, Jihoon wondered what the heck he did in his past life to deserve this punishment now. "Why don't you call him first?" Jihoon cringed, already knowing the answer, or at least had a good guess on what was going to happen.

"I can't do that!" Soonyoung gasped dramatically.

"And why the hell not?"

"That's just how it is! It's against the code!"

"Soonyoung, you're not in the that stupid fanclub anymore, you're his _boyfriend_." Jihoon stressed through clenched teeth. Why were newbie couples so fucking hard to handle?

Soonyoung seemed to realize his role for the first time and turned into a .jpg for a while as Jihoon folded his arms impatiently, wondering when Soonyoung was going to let go of his shoulders and let him go back to his original business.

"Oh yeah, that I am." Soonyoung muttered dumbly, sitting back down onto his bed as he looked at the dial numbers on his phone, his finger hovering above the screen nervously as though this was the most crucial moment of his life.

Jihoon glared at his friend and continued to wait. _Just. Press. The damn. Button._

"I can't."

"OH FOR SATAN'S SAKE." Jihoon stood up, snatched the phone from Soonyoung's hand and dialed Junhui's number, holding a pillow up against Soonyoung's face as the latter attempted to tackle him, "Yeah, hey, Jun? Come collect your trash bunny."

"Hey!" Soonyoung whined with a muffled tone.

"Also, he has something to say to you, but he probably won't be able to and you guys will end up having a completely pointless conversation, so I'll say it for him beforehand. Call often, yeah? Bunnies die without love. Okay, I'm going to give the phone back to Soonyoung." Jihoon shoved the device into Soonyoung hand as a confused tone buzzed through from the other end.

"What was that for?!"

"You sure you want to keep him waiting? You can say your thanks to me after you hang up." Jihoon replied nonchalantly, turning back to the pile of work on his table.

Soonyoung wanted to protest, but decided that he did have a point... and to be honest, he would much rather chat with Junhui than deal with Jihoon's temper issue right now. With slightly trembling hands, he placed his phone against his ear, "...Hello?"

"Soonyoung? What was that about?" Junhui's voice sounded unbelievable close, even though he was all the way on the other side of the wall, or maybe he wasn't even home yet. Soonyoung tried hard not to swoon as he fell backwards onto the mattress.

"Oh, um... you know Jihoonie..." Soonyoung replied, trying not to sound nervous. Even though they lived near, they didn't really have much time to see each other since classes started, so just hearing his voice now made Soonyoung unbelievably happy, to the point that he could have sworn he could've grown wings and soared out of the window.

Junhui chuckled from the other end, "He's an interesting little dude, huh? How have you been doing?"

Soonyoung closed his eyes, thinking about whether to record this conversation or not so he could have Junhui's voice file forever and even use it as an alarm ring, "I've been doing great! Assignments are always a pain, but I like my classes this semester."

"That's good. I actually just got out of class, do you want to meet later for dinner?"

"The dining courts would be closed already..."

"So? We can just go out for dinner. It's about time I took you somewhere, even Wonwoo and Chan had their 'meal date' already." Junhui replied, sounding as nonchalant as usual. Soonyoung envied people like him, they were probably so used to these situations that they knew exactly how to proceed with the conversation.

"That sounds nice."

"I'll pick you up later then. God, I can't wait to see you..." Junhui murmured, and Soonyoung could almost just picture his adoring gaze.

Soonyoung gulped nervously, this was getting bad for his heart.

"I'm getting on the bus now so I'll have to hang up. See you later."

"Y-yeah... see you..." Soonyoung muttered, disappointment evident in his tone.

Junhui laughed lightheartedly, then suddenly sent an air-kiss from his end and hung up.

Soonyoung was paralyzed on his bed, the phone still beeping against his ear as he stared at the ceiling. Junhui was so bloody cheesy, oh god, it was like he wanted to give Soonyoung a heart attack.

"Done?" Jihoon asked, turning around, "See? That wasn't so bad, right?"

"Yeah... IT WAS WAY WORSE THAN I IMAGINED."

"Uh huh."

Meanwhile, Junhui turned to Wonwoo on the bus, "So I got a date with my bunny." He said proudly, a wide smile on his face.

"Your trash bunny."

"Why do you guys keep calling him that? It's hurtful." Junhui pouted, tucking his phone away into his pocket.

Wonwoo rolled his eyes, "Why are you so proud of it? You guys are dating, it should be natural."

"In case you haven't noticed, it's our first date. Normally you or Jihoon would tag along when we try to get a meal date, so yes, I'm blaming it on you guys." Junhui taunted, wiggling a finger in front of his best friend.

"Whatever."

"You could at least pretend to care, so cold... Maybe I should ask Chan for tips on how to get on your good side." Junhui sighed wistfully, glancing over at Wonwoo to study his reaction. Wonwoo normally wore a cold exterior but whenever Junhui mentioned Chan, his face would visibly lighten up.

"Shut up and don't bother him."

"Yes, overprotective boyfriend sir."

It seemed that for now, things were quite peaceful, and Wonwoo was thankful for it. Junhui had finally settled down, and he trusted that Soonyoung would be a good partner for him. Whether Junhui would be a good partner for Soonyoung was still questionable to Wonwoo, but it looked like he does cherish him wholeheartedly. It's been a while since Junhui's bragged about getting a date while looking genuinely happy after all.

"...I'm kind of proud of you."

"What?"

"Nothing. You're still an ass."


	7. Cosmos

"Okay, Soonyoung, relax, I have the cakes." Jihoon rolled his eyes, placing his phone away from his ear as Soonyoung released his panic attack from the other end. He sighed, glancing down at the tower of boxes next to him in the shopping cart he borrowed earlier from the department store, "Yes, _cakes_ , I'm sure of it. I even got Jeonghan to help me carry some. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get that guy to do stuff?"

"Hey! I agreed to willingly!" Jeonghan protested from the side while loading the boxes onto his car.

"Yeah, I'm sure he was more than willing to help his honey." Soonyoung said from the other end of the phone, fumbling with his car keys, "Congrats on your 2nd anniversary last month, by the way."

"Thanks. It would have been better if you told me that last month instead of a late greeting now." Jihoon replied bitterly, trying to get the trunk to close without crushing or damaging the cakes.

"I was away for a show!" Soonyoung protested, "You know it's hard being in a professional dance troupe! I just came back last week!"

"Yes, and the first thing you said to me after I drove all the way to the airport to get you was 'You need to help me pick out 1,000 cakes.' Thankfully Jeonghan was there to convince you not to blow all your money up on this sort of silly stuff." Jihoon continued to complain as he finally got the trunk to shut securely, then pushed the shopping cart back to the returning area.

"It's not silly, it's love." Soonyoung insisted, suddenly forgetting which one of his keys matched with his car as he attempted to slot in each one of them, "You know how important this is to me."

Jihoon sighed, getting himself into the passenger seat and motioning for Jeonghan to head out, "Yeah, yeah... I've been in your shoes, trust me."

"Exactly! Now, this has to be perfect- NOOOO!!!"

A wave of silence came after Soonyoung's shrill scream, Jihoon waited patiently for an explanation that of course, never came.

"Soonyoung? If you don't answer within 30 seconds I'm going to assume that you're dead and return all of these cakes."

"...I dropped my keys, Jihoonie."

"Well, pick them up."

"Into a ditch."

"Well, go down and pick them up."

"I'm wearing a suit!"

Before Jihoon could command Soonyoung to just strip, go down, and pick the keys up, Jeonghan came to the rescue, "Don't worry, Soonyoung! We'll come pick you up!"

"Thank youuuuu!!! Jihoonie doesn't deserve you!"

"Goodbye." Jihoon said dryly before hanging up. Sometimes he wondered why he still puts up with Soonyoung's antics.

* * *

Junhui collapsed onto the couch in the staff office, waiting for Wonwoo to finish grading papers. The latter had insisted that he didn't come back as a TA for Chan, but Junhui knew otherwise. Now that Chan's graduated as well, Wonwoo decided to apply as a full-time professor upon realizing that teaching actually suited him pretty well, so now he was normally just cooped up in his office with Junhui occasionally crashing in without an invitation.

"Soonyoung's traveling." Was usually the excuse he gave Wonwoo. Despite the mature exterior he tries to put up, Junhui was actually the type to get lonely easily, so Wonwoo knew better than to push him away.

As for Chan? He found interest in biology and was currently working on getting a Ph.D. Junhui had joked that he'd be the one bringing home the dough when he and Wonwoo finally decided on moving in together.

"And what are you doing, Mr. I-Have-A-Linguistics-Degree-That's-Just-Uselessly-Hanging-On-My-Wall-Gathering-Dust?" Wonwoo retorted, removing his spectacles and setting them on the table after going through the pile of work on his desk.

"I'll have you know that I have a very successful career as a translator." Junhui grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at Wonwoo playfully, "Besides, I'm cute, I get by."

"You're sick."

"Mhm... You haven't forgotten about our dinner date with Soonyoung and Jihoon, right?" Junhui inquired, sitting up slightly straighter.

"Yeah. I'm surprised you guys asked for such a crowd, I thought you two would like some more privacy, especially since Soonyoung just got back from a trip, and... Who knows where you have been." Wonwoo rolled his eyes as Junhui gave a mysterious smirk, "I actually don't want to know."

"It's a funny story-"

"Again, I don't want to know."

Junhui pouted and tossed a pillow at Wonwoo's head, letting out a satisfied chuckle when it reached its target. Wonwoo decided to ignore Junhui for now, he had plenty more chances to embarrass the shit out of him later in front of all their friends. Sometimes he felt that they spent more time with each other than their significant others due to their jobs, even his students joked about them looking like a couple, but he knew that they wouldn't say that if they saw how Junhui looks at Soonyoung. In the latter's presence, Junhui's smile always shined the brightest. He wondered if he looked as foolish when he was with Chan...

"Wonwoo, you remember the plan, right?" Junhui asked, waving his hand in front of his friend.

"Huh?" Wonwoo blinked.

"The _plan_."

"Oh... oh, _that_ plan." Wonwoo sighed, scratching the back of his head tiredly, "Yeah, of course, you wouldn't stop yapping to me about it for the past week."

"So you better not mess up now!" Junhui replied indignantly, folding his arms in front of his chest as though he were almost sure that Wonwoo would forget once they got down to it.

Wonwoo rolled his eyes, why did Junhui have to be so dramatic all the time? He thought he'd grow out of it by now, but apparently he was now stuck dealing with it.

* * *

"Jun! Wonwoo! Over here!" Soonyoung stood up from the back of the restaurant, waving madly at the two guys slowly making their way towards the larger group which consisted of Jihoon, Jeonghan, Soonyoung, and Chan.

"Hey, sorry we're late!" Junhui laughed, quickly tugging Soonyoung closer and planting a peck on the latter's cheek when he got close enough, "Wonwoo had trouble finding something suitable to wear."

Wonwoo rolled his eyes again and prayed that the rest of the meal wasn't going to be made up of Junhui constantly using him as an excuse for, well, multiple things. He turned his attention towards Chan instead, sitting down comfortably next to him and breathing a sigh of relief. Even though they hadn't said anything to each other yet, just his presence calmed Wonwoo down a heck lot.

"Did Jun-hyung get the thing sorted out?" Chan asked quietly, scooting his chair closer to Wonwoo's.

"Yeah, thankfully. It's too bad for me though, I was hoping he'd pull all of his hair out and go bald over that." Wonwoo shrugged, glaring daggers over at his friend, who was now enthusiastically engaged in conversation with Jeonghan while Jihoon listened on the side, seemingly only half paying attention to his surroundings.

Chan chuckled softly, threading their fingers together under the table subtly. Neither of them were the flashy type, but it didn't mean they didn't enjoy showing affection... just, uh, subtly.

The rest of the evening went by relatively peacefully as they exchanged stories from work, reminisced about their school years, talked about whether they've kept in touch with the others like Mingyu, Minghao, Seungkwan, and the whole gang.

Jihoon had surprisingly met with Seungcheol a couple of times after graduation by accident, then later learned that they were neighbors. He now had coffee with him once a week, with Jeonghan occasionally tagging along to make sure Seungcheol wasn't trying anything funny (he wouldn't admit it though), and learned that Seungcheol and Jisoo were still sharing an apartment. Junhui and Minghao often met up to watch movies or see exhibitions, they even planned trips back home together even though their hometowns were fairly far apart. Wonwoo stayed in touch with Mingyu as well, the latter would treat him to free food samples and ask for his opinion on new recipes. Of course Chan continued to stay in touch with Seungkwan and Hansol, they wouldn't leave him alone, after all. They still insisted on dragging him out of labs at times, but he didn't mind as long as he got his work done in the end. Soonyoung and Seokmin often hanged out as well, taking turns treating the other to ice cream and such. Jihoon thought that was childish of them, but what could he do about it?

After a while of just the usual banters, Soonyoung decided that it was time for him to set his plan in action and motioned towards Jihoon and Jeonghan to start preparing for the "big reveal". The two did as they were signaled (with Jihoon being a little more reluctant as usual).

"So, um, Jun." Soonyoung stuttered, turning towards his boyfriend whom he hadn't been able to spend as much time with for the past month due to their individual schedules.

"Hm?" Junhui smiled, his chin resting on the back of his hand casually, and Soonyoung again hated him for being able to look so effortlessly stunning. It made him feel extremely self-conscious as he glanced at his reflection in the glass, wondering if he was dressed okay, was his hair okay? They always seemed naturally frizzy, but he made sure to smooth them down more today.

He took a deep breath as he looked back at Junhui, their hands folded on top of one another on the edge of the table, "Dating you for so long- no, _being able_ to date you itself is a miracle to me, I mean, I've admired you since our middle school years." Soonyoung tried hard not to stutter under Junhui's slightly puzzled gaze, "I mean, man, I can't believe how lucky I am..." Soonyoung mumbled, feeling himself shake from the anxiousness, "It's like a dream come true, and I don't ever want it to end."

"It won't." Junhui promised, squeezing Soonyoung's hand gently, his smile still in place. However, in the back of his mind he was going crazy, Soonyoung wasn't going to do what he thought he was going to do, right? His anxiety increased as he noticed Jihoon and Jeonghan subtly excused themselves from the table. _No, no, no, no, no..._ "Look, Soonyoung-"

"You've always tried your best to take care of me and made me happy, so I wanted to take the first step this time..." Soonyoung continued, guiding Junhui away from the table slightly, not noticing that the latter was sending SOS signals to Wonwoo and Chan, who quickly disappeared briefly from the table as well.

"Soonyoung, I-"

"So... Wen Junhui." Soonyoung kneeled down and looked into Junhui's eyes as the latter blinked rapidly down at him, "Will you-"

"WILL YOU MARRY ME?!" Junhui suddenly blurted out just as Wonwoo and Chan reappeared with what seemed like thousands of roses behind him.

It was Soonyoung's turn to blink.

"Sorry, uh, should we come back later?" Jihoon said from behind Soonyoung, the cake tower set neatly on a cart next to him.

"No, uh... I'm not sure how to proceed from here." Soonyoung replied dumbly, still down on one knee.

Junhui lowered himself until he was leveled with Soonyoung, intwining their fingers lovingly, "Silly, I hurt you in the beginning, so it's my duty to make you happy till the end. That's why I should be the one proposing." He insisted, pulling Soonyoung closer to him.

"But that's not how it works!" Soonyoung protested, "You've done so much already, like paying for dates by force, covering rent, cooking meals-"

"Yeah, what exactly do _you_ do?" Jihoon cut in impatiently.

"He's his ray of sunshine." Wonwoo replied with a dead tone, clearly as unamused with the situation as Jihoon was while Chan chuckled softly on the side.

Junhui laughed, "I'm sorry to ruin your plan, but I'm taking this one as well."

"Then I'm not saying yes!" Soonyoung pouted stubbornly, "I've been planning this for months now!"

"So have I."

"I've loved you since middle school!"

"So have I."

"But I've-"

Junhui placed a finger on Soonyoung's lips, successfully hushing the latter as he pulled out a box, revealing a ring settled snugly inside, "I guess we can exchange rings early?" He grinned cheekily, and slipped the golden band onto Soonyoung's finger without waiting for an answer.

Jeonghan tapped the still-stunned Soonyoung on the shoulder and handed him his ring box, watching as Soonyoung stiffly placed the jewelry on Junhui's finger, his hands shaking as he did so.

"Sorry to break up this moment, but neither of you have said the magic words yet." Jihoon coughed.

Soonyoung looked up at Junhui, who stared straight back at him, his eyes gentle yet fiercely shining from happiness as he looked into Soonyoung's teary ones. At that moment, Soonyoung truly felt their feelings synchronizing and resonating with one another as their lips moved at the same time.

_"Yes."_

* * *

"But I still didn't get to say it!" Soonyoung whined from the backseat as Junhui drove him, Wonwoo, and Chan back.

"You got to start it, that should be enough." Junhui replied, his triumphant grin ticking Soonyoung off slightly.

"Um, thanks for the cakes though..." Chan said, attempting to change the subject.

"Oh, no problem! You could probably save some for when your first date anniversary comes around, which is soon, right?" Soonyoung smiled, patting the younger boy on the shoulder.

The latter only blushed as he glanced at Wonwoo's amused expression through the rearview mirror, "Y-yeah..."

"Speaking of which, how come Wonwoo gets to sit in the passenger seat?" Soonyoung griped, crossing his arms, "That's no way to treat your newly engaged friend!"

"Jun's terrible at reading maps, and you get carsick easily, so I have to do it." Wonwoo replied monotonously from the front.

"Don't worry, Soonyoung! We get the car to ourselves when they get off." Junhui laughed, carefree as usual, "I'll spoil you lots then."

That seemed to quiet Soonyoung down, and Wonwoo wasn't sure whether he should be grateful or disgusted. He sighed. Oh well, it was a pretty special day for them, he should try to be happy for two of his oldest friends... he never expected them to stick together for this long, neither did he expect himself to stick with this goofy lot after graduation.

He obviously didn't expect to find himself a potential lifetime partner either.

"Wonwoo?" Chan blinked, noticing Wonwoo's somewhat intense stare from the mirror. The latter only smiled and shook his head.

Well... he didn't regret it.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I swear I meant for this to be a fluffy fic, I ruin everything, why do I even try


End file.
